Step 2: Repeatedly break down topics into related subtopics.

Now it's time to fill in the main content for your mind map: start by adding some branches that are related to the main branch.

For example, if you're creating a diagram about Animals, you might start with "Vertebrates" and "Invertebrates".

After that you can break down the items you've just added into their parts. Keep going until you feel you've gone into enough detail. How you break down your idea is completely up to you, there's no right or wrong way!

Step 3: Layout topics, format the text, colour, and line styles.

Having written down all your ideas they probably need a bit of sorting out. You can change the colours, positioning, line styles, and text format to help create a diagram that clearly conveys your topics and relationships between them.

You can also create cross-links between items to show how different parts of your top are related. Of course, you can do all this while adding topics too!

Sometimes an idea needs a picture, an icon, or some more in depth description to make it truly clear. Add images, icons, and comments to your diagram wherever you feel it would make your topic earlier to understand or memorise.